Juice Analytics

If you’re in or around Nashville and hear an unfamiliar voice break out in song, it might just be one of our Juicers inspired by a trip through Music City.

We’ll be in Nashville, Tennessee on March 1 and 2, 2012, and we would enjoy catching up with you while we’re there. There’s a lot to discuss, from industry news to the latest here at Juice, and we look forward to hearing about what’s going on in your corner of the data viz world.

If you’ll be in the Nashville area and would like to connect with us, leave us a comment or send an email to info@juiceanalytics.com.

(And, if you can carry a tune, all the better.)

Clear bright white and nostalgic colored string lights adorn otherwise commonplace trees and shrubbery on nearly every block this time of year. Neighborhoods and shopping centers look like beautiful storybook villages as we pass, enjoying our commutes a little bit more in spite of the holiday traffic.

On my drive home last night, the thought occurred to me that data is a lot like holiday lights. When organized in an attractive and appealing dashboard design, the power of data is enhanced and can be even more powerful and meaningful. Data, when displayed in a striking new way can be more intriguing to us, and as a result, we’re more likely to engage with it. Perhaps we would have missed the very same data had it been organized and presented in a less pleasing fashion.

By presenting data in a way in which our psyche is predisposed to receive it, we allow our audience to see and hear the story that we have to share, and then help them gain clarity and understanding around the data. It is then that we have their attention and the opportunity to make a point, deliver a pitch, close a sale or ask them to make a decision.

Sharing information in a context in which people are open and most receptive to receiving it is intuitive. It’s human nature to appreciate attractive things, especially pretty lights, to give and receive beautifully and thoughtfully wrapped packages and to look forward to the promise of a brand new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Juice Team!

Using proper dashboard design techniques is a topic that struck a chord when we released our white paper series
“A Guide to Creating Dashboards People Love to Use” a few years ago, and still seems to resonate as people regularly download the content from the Juice Analytics website, and we receive ongoing requests to speak around these key principles.

Since we can all use a little calibration every once in a while to stay in tune, we thought we’d post it again, with a reminder that you can access this oldie but goody, along with other materials on the Juice Analytics resources page anytime — and that all of these materials are available to you gratis.

Should you have a friend, colleague or know someone who could benefit from a little dashboard design “religion”, feel free to let them know where you found yours.

Do you have your child’s drawing on the wall of your cube, office or maybe at home on the fridge? Can you remember visualizing the world that simply?  When was the last time you looked at anything quite that way? What if you did?

Well, we did just that. And, our effort resulted in a video to share with people about what we do here at Juice.  We hope you like it.

(P.S. Thank your kid for the artwork covering that stain on your wall — and for the great analogy.)

There’s a crispness in the air, the leaves are turning, and a restlessness has surfaced that is unmistakable.  Road trip!

November 1 & 2, Juice is going to be in Boston.  So, if you’ll be in town and you’d like to meet up, reach out and let us know.  Or if you happen to know someone in the Boston area who is into data visualization — or should be — take this opportunity to reach out to them.  Just “Say Hello to Someone From Massachusetts” and invite them to ping us.

There’s a lot to catch up on from industry news to the latest here at Juice, and we look forward to hearing about what’s going on in your corner of the data viz world.

If you’ll be in the Boston area and would like to connect with us, leave us a comment or send an email to info@juiceanalytics.com.

“Cheers!”

If you’ve ever tried to get anywhere in Atlanta at 5:30 p.m. on a Thursday, you’re painfully aware of the seemingly perpetual problem we have with traffic.  Last year, Atlanta was ranked as the 4th worst city for commuters.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Atlanta Map:

That’s why Juice teamed up with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution(AJC) to help metro Atlantans better understand and visualize the magnitude of the initiative which encompasses projects across a 10-county region at a proposed cost of $6.14 billion. If voters approve the new transportation referendum in Summer 2012, it will be the biggest single transportation effort in the region in over 40 years. The referendum would add an extra one percent multi-county regional sales tax to fund the mammoth initiative over a 10-year period.

Juice designed a detailed map to accompany the AJC’s three-page cover story in order to help metro Atlantans better understand and visualize the magnitude of the initiative. The map provides readers with a bird’s eye view of the 118 proposed projects on the current draft of the referendum. The alpha-numeric coordinates along the “x” and “y” axis help readers find their bearings, while the color and pattern-coded keys help them easily identify degrees of traffic congestion and decipher roadway projects from transit projects, bike and pedestrian projects from aviation projects.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to our community to do what we can to help solve one of the region’s key challenges when it comes to growth, economy, and environment. We’re looking forward to seeing how this story plays out and are hopeful that visualizations such as this one will help voters and decision makers alike consume, process the massive amounts of data driving this effort, and act.

Unfortunately, the AJC only ran the map and accompanying story in the subscriber edition of the paper, so I’m not able to share a link.

Late nights, knashing of teeth, last minute revisions, and all of that pressure.  And that was just us preparing to launch the contest.

To all of you who submitted entries for the Strata Vizathlon Visualization Contest, we thank each and every one of you, and appreciate your tremendous efforts.

Along with the team at O’Reilly Media, we are proud to announce the winners of the 2011 Strata Vizathlon Contest.

Best in Show:

Eating Constraints by Dane Summers (submitted in “Dig In” Category)

Category Winner: Delicious Storylines

Do You Want to Eat This by Team Data Distillery (Anita Lillie, Kris Chan and Romy Misra)

Category Winners: Dig In

Interactive Food Analysis by Josh Tapley

Food Facts Exploration by Kyle Foreman

The “Best in Show” winner, Dane Summers, will be announced at the O’Reilly Strata NY Summit in New York, NY September 20 or 21, 2011.

Congratulations again to our winners, and thank you to everyone who participated. You can see all the entries at the Strata Vizathlon website.

P.S. Tickets are still available for the O’Reilly Strata NY Conference. You can receive a 30% discount if you register using the discount code “JUICE” on the registration page. (Note: The discount has increased to 30% since the original blog post.)

Contest Ends at Midnight EDT September 4, 2011.

You’re officially out of excuses.  With Hurricane Irene knocking out power and Internet connections all along the East Coast this weekend, we have decided to give you another week to submit your entry for the Strata Vizathlon Visualization Contest.  The new deadline is Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 11:59:59 p.m.

You Could Win a Trip to NYC.

The data visualization contest leads up to O’Reilly’s Strata New York Summit September 19 – 23.  The Overall “Best in Show” winner will receive round-trip air transportation,  hotel accommodations and a complimentary pass to the Strata NY Summit and Strata Conference in NYC, and will be announced as the “Best in Show” winner at the Strata Summit September 20 or 21, 2011.  See complete Rules and prize information.

Two Categories.  You Choose Which One to Enter.

There are two challenges: 1) Delicious Storylines and 2) Dig In. Enter one or enter both.  But enter.  There’s still time.

Good luck!

We’re teaming up with O’Reilly Media to challenge you to participate in a data visualization contest leading up to O’Reilly’s Strata New York Summit September 19 – 23.

Data has become nearly as essential as food in both our personal and professional lives. So, why not use food as the basis for a data visualization contest?

Play With Your Food.

Join in the competition and visualize information about all the delicious fare our society enjoys. (First, you’ll want to put down that chicken wing, lest you get sauce on your keypad.) Being the foodie you are, you’ll appreciate that we’ve found some pretty cool data sets from FoodFacts.com for you to play with, making this subject matter you can really, uh, sink your teeth into.

A Trip to NYC, Strata Conference Passes and More.

The grand prize winner will win a trip to the Big Apple to present their winning visualization at the O’Reilly Strata NY Summit in New York, NY September 20 – 21, 2011.  Other prizes include Strata NY Conference passes, ebooks from oreilly.com and more. Sweet.

On-the-Map Judges.

Who would pass up an opportunity to get the attention of these judges, let alone have their work reviewed by Flowing Data’s Nathan Yau, The New York Time’s Amanda Cox and Juice’s own Chris Gemignani?  Serious bragging rights.

All That.

More information about the challenge categories, the rules, the prizes, the judges, judging criteria and all you could possibly want or need know about the contest is here.

So, get started on your data visualization now, while your appetite is whet for competition. Entries are due by August 28, 2011.

Juice Fans Get 30% Off Strata NY.

Register now to attend the O’Reilly Strata NY Conference, and get 30% off your registration fee with the special Juice fan discount.  Just enter “JUICE” on the conference registration page.  Learn more.

Juice Friends and Fans receive a 20% discount to O’Reilly’s Strata NY Conference in NYC September 19 – 23, 2011.

Just plug in the code JUICE, and you’ll receive our special 20% discount reserved just for you.

Register for one, two or all three of the conference segments here.

• Strata Jumpstart
• Strata Summit
• Strata Conference

The Strata Conference covers the latest and best tools and technologies for the data discipline along the entire data supply chain—from gathering, cleaning, analyzing and storing data to communicating data intelligence effectively.

You’ll find hardcore technical sessions on parallel computing, machine learning and interactive visualizations, as well as case studies from finance, media, healthcare and technology.  The Strata Conference also brings in provocative reports from the leading edge, and showcases the people, tools, and technologies that make data work.  It’s simply the conference where you want to be this September.

Confirmed speakers include The New York Times‘ Jer Thorpe, Hilary Mason of bit.ly, Pete Warden with OpenHeatMap and Chief Digital Officer of the City of New York, Rachel Sterne. You can bet more names you’ll recognize are yet to be announced.

Register now and take advantage of the Juice Friends and Fans discount.  We’ll see you there.